|[4e] 4E Rules Primer

Marcel Beaudoin wrote:
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Transcribed, sort of, for easier commentary:

1. Character roles are more clearly defined.
Everyone who’s played D&D knows that there are roles for
each character – some characters “tank”, some characters
are “artillery”, etc. 4th Edition defines those roles into four
types – controller, defender, leader, and striker. Controllers
(like wizards) deal with large amounts of enemies at once,
favoring offense over defense. Defenders (like fighters and
paladins) are the front-line characters that have great
defensive abilities and good melee offense. Leaders (like
clerics and warlords) are good at aiding other members of
the party by healing, inspiring, or protecting them. Strikers
(like rangers, rogues, and warlocks) deal large amounts of
damage to single targets at one time and quickly move about
the battlefield. Most adventuring parties consist of at least
one character of each of the roles.

2. Powers give you more combat options.
Clerics chant prayers, wizards incant spells, and fighters
attempt exploits. These are all examples of powers – your
suite of combat options. Three power sources – arcane,
divine, and martial – are presented in the Player’s Handbook.
Each character class draws abilities from one of these power
sources: clerics and paladins use divine powers (prayers),
warlocks and wizards use arcane powers (spells), and
fighters, rangers, rogues, and warlords use martial powers
(exploits).
You get a number of powers based on your character’s
level. Powers can be used at-will, once per encounter, or
once per day depending on the power.
TIP: Use your at-will powers instead of using basic
attacks. They’ll frequently do more than just a modest
amount of damage to one enemy.

3. Attacker rolls against a static defense.
In 4th Edition, you have 4 defense values – Armor Class,
Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. The attacker chooses an attack,
rolls 1d20, adds the attack bonus, and calls out the result
against the appropriate defense. The defenses are all static
numbers, just like Armor Class was in 3rd Edition. Attack
actions involve a “to hit” roll against any and all targets, so a
power that targets all enemies within 1 square requires a
separate attack roll against each enemy affected.
TIP: If you make an attack against multiple targets, you
don’t roll damage for each target – just roll that once. It’s best
when you attack multiple targets to roll damage first, and
then roll your attacks.

4. Standard, move, and minor actions.
Each time it’s your turn, you get one standard, one move,
and one minor action. Standard actions are usually attacks,
move actions are usually used to move, and minor actions
are little things like drawing a weapon or opening a door.
You can always exchange a standard action for a move
action or minor action, or a move action for a minor action.
There are also free actions, which take almost no time or
effort, such as dropping a held item or talking. You can take
free actions during your turn or anyone else’s turn, and as
many as you like (within reason).
There’s another category of actions called triggered
actions – these include opportunity actions (like opportunity
attacks) and immediate actions (like a readied action). Your
DM can tell you more about those should you need them.

5. Healing gets an overhaul.
Hit points still measure your ability to stay in the fight, but
healing’s no longer just the burden of one character
anymore. Each character has a certain number of healing
surges. Once during each encounter, you can take a
standard action called a second wind; this gives you a certain
amount of hit points back equal to your healing surge value
and gives you a +2 bonus to all your defenses until the start
of your next turn. You then tick off one of your healing
surges for the day. Some powers (like some cleric prayers)
will also heal you your healing surge value, and you’ll tick off
your healing surges for them as well. When you run out of
healing surges, you’ll want to take an extended rest.
If you’re outside of combat, you can take a short rest and
tick off the healing surges you need to heal up damage.
TIP: If you’ve been knocked down a few hit points and
can’t decide what to do when it’s your turn, taking a second
wind action is a good idea.

6. Short and extended rests.
Resting’s now divided into two groups – short and extended.
A short rest lasts 5 minutes, and is a long enough time for
you to regain your encounter powers and use healing surges
to heal up. An extended rest is akin to “camping” and lasts 6
hours. After an extended rest, you’re fully healed, you have a
full compliment of healing surges, you have your daily
powers back, and you reset your action points to 1.
TIP: It’s good to take an extended rest when some
members in the group are down to about 1 healing surge
remaining, or everyone has used all their daily powers.

7. Attack!
Attacks are divided up into a few different types. Melee attacks
are those you make usually when you’re adjacent to your target.
Ranged attacks can be made at any distance up to the maximum
range of the attack; however, if you take a ranged attack next to
an enemy you provoke an opportunity attack against you. Close
attacks affect an area starting with squares adjacent to you;
these attacks don’t provoke an opportunity attack. Area attacks
usually affect an area at range; these attacks do provoke
opportunity attacks.
Most of the time when you take an attack, you’ll use one of
your powers. However, there are some times when you’ll use a
basic attack – just a regular old swing of the sword or shot from
the bow. These attacks are less powerful than using powers, but
they can get the job done. You’ll use a basic attack when you’re
charging, making opportunity attacks, or when you use certain
powers.

8. Action points give you an extra action.
You begin each adventure with 1 action point, and you can get
another one for every 2 encounters that you complete (called a
milestone). You can spend 1 action point per encounter to take
one extra action on your turn. It can be a standard, move, or
minor action.
When you take an extended rest, your action points reset
back to 1.
TIP: Make sure to spend action points at least once every
other encounter (as often as you earn them), since you can only
spend one per encounter.

9. Movement is quick and easy.
Each character has a speed listed in squares. One 1-inch square
equals one five-foot square in the game world. When you take a
move action, you can move up to the indicated number of
squares. Moving from one square to another, even diagonally,
costs 1 square of speed. Sometimes terrain will slow you down,
costing you more than 1 square of speed – this is called difficult
terrain.
Moving away from an enemy adjacent from you usually
provokes an opportunity attack. However, you can also use a
move action to shift; this lets you move one square without
suffering an opportunity attack from adjacent enemies.
TIP: If you need to get somewhere fast, you can run as a
move action. This gives you +2 speed for your move, but you
grant any attackers combat advantage until the beginning of
your next turn.

10. Saving throws are straightforward.
Sometimes your character will be hit by an ongoing effect, like
taking poison damage or being immobilized. When this
happens you’ll usually get to make a saving throw to remove the
effect at the end of your turn. Saving throws are simple – just
roll 1d20. If you roll a 10 or higher, you’ll end the effect. If you
roll a 9 or lower, the effect will usually continue until you have
to make another saving throw at the end of your next turn.
Some characters have bonuses that can be applied to certain
types of saving throws, and some powers grant modifications to
saving throws as well.

11. Durations are easy to manage.
Most effects that have durations (usually imparting a condition
on the target) last either until the target makes a saving throw to
ward it off, or until the end of the next turn of the attacker that
caused the nasty effect. A few effects have durations that last
through the entire encounter. No more tracking rounds to
determine when your effect ends!

12. Reach (usually) isn’t as threatening.
Reach (possessed by some monsters and weapons) is only
“active” on the attacker’s turn. Otherwise, attackers with reach
function just like those without reach. This is usually most
relevant when determining the area a character or monster
threatens.
TIP: Watch out for the few creatures with threatening
reach – they can threaten more than just squares adjacent to
them.

13. A trio of “c” rules you might want to know.
• Combat Advantage – This gives you a +2 bonus to attack
rolls when you’re flanking, or when the target is under one
of a number of conditions (dazed, surprised, etc.).
• Cover – If an enemy has cover, you get a -2 penalty to
attack rolls against it. Your allies don’t provide cover, but
enemies do. There’s also no penalty for making ranged
attacks into melee.
• Charging – This is a standard action. Move up to your
speed, and make a basic attack. You get a +1 bonus on the
attack roll. You have to move at least 2 squares from your
starting position, and you must charge to the nearest square
from which you can attack your target. You can’t charge if
the nearest square is occupied, but you can charge over
difficult terrain (it just costs you extra movement).